


The Best Plan Involves All of Us

by Impala_Chick



Category: The Expanse (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, M/M, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:29:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25643575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Impala_Chick/pseuds/Impala_Chick
Summary: The Rocinante is being pursued by the Martian Navy, so the crew decides to split up. Turns out that plan doesn't sit well with any of them.
Relationships: Amos Burton/Praxidike Meng
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31
Collections: Small Fandoms Fest





	The Best Plan Involves All of Us

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Small Fandom Fest 27 Prompt _they've been on the run before_.

Growing up in Baltimore meant surviving at any cost, so Amos did what he had to do for money. On good days, that meant enticing less than savory characters to buy drugs from whichever supplier had promised Amos a larger cut. Amos always felt like that kind of money was clean, since those people would have bought from someone at some point anyway. 

On bad days, Amos had to do shitty favors related to sex or violence for men and women with deep pockets. On those days, Amos never managed to escape with his dignity, but at least he usually got food out of the deal.

Once he had the chance to get off Earth, Amos promised himself that he would never go back. 

He sure as hell isn’t going back now, not when the entire Martian Navy is looking for him. 

Luckily, this time around, life on the run turns out to be far better than Amos could have hoped for.

* * *

The crew voted, and they all agreed that the best way to avoid capture was to abandon the ship and scatter to the far corners of the system. When Amos looked up at Prax across the quarterdeck just after the vote, he could see him worrying his bottom lip. Amos shared his anxiety, even though he did his best to hide it. How could Amos possibly let Prax and Mei fend for themselves? Amos knew exactly what the MCRN and the UNN were capable of, and yet he also didn’t want to put Prax in an impossible position. After all, Prax had just been pretty vocal about ditching the Roci. And he had always wanted to get back to Ganymede. Amos wasn’t sure if it was his place to point out that Ganymede was probably a lost cause by now, so he left to hide out with his tools in the workroom. 

It only took a few minutes for Prax to find him. Prax heavily sat down across from Amos on the bench and asked him point blank if he wanted to return to Earth. The question surprised Amos, and he didn’t answer right away. He’d never even considered going back to Earth. 

“Can’t you go back to Baltimore? Use your connections? I mean, the MCRN probably can’t get to Earth,” Prax pressed. 

“Nah,” Amos shook his head and picked up a wrench from the toolbox. “The people I know… I don’t want to see them again. I can make it out here. My home is in space now.”

“If you’re not going to Earth, maybe we should stick together.”

When Prax grinned at Amos, his eyes wide and hopeful, Amos already knew what he was going to say. Unfamiliar warmth filled his chest, and he figured maybe that was what happiness felt like.

Amos pointed at Prax with the wrench, giving him one last chance to back out. “You okay with never going back to Ganymede? They’ll go looking for you there first. And when they find you, they’ll use you to find the rest of us.”

Prax stood up and looked down at Amos, his eyes blazing with conviction. 

“Amos, you are our best chance of survival. I know that. So if you’re saying we shouldn’t go to Ganymede, we won’t. We want to go with you.” 

Amos admired his courage in the face of having to drastically alter his life plan. The man had a backbone of steel, even if no one could tell just by looking at him. He knew how much Prax had looked forward to going back to Ganymede with Mei. He also knows that Ganymede was the only home either of them had ever known.

As for him, the Rocinante was important to him. But he’d survived in other places before. He could do it again. In the back of his mind, Amos had always suspected a day like this would come. Their good fortune couldn't last forever.

“I promise you, I’ll keep you both safe. For as long as you want me tagging along.” Amos stood up and stuck out his hand. Prax laughed, ignored his outstretched hand, and pulled Amos into a hug instead.

The hardest part for Amos was going to be saying goodbye to Naomi. They’d been inseparable since they’d met. Mostly because she made Amos feel normal in a lot of ways. It was easy with Naomi because she made it easy. She was straightforward, and earnest, and smart as hell. She gave Amos direction without being a moralist. Amos learned from her every day that he was around her.

But things were different now.

Amos had made a pact with Prax. A promise. And he intended to keep Prax and Mei safe until they had to dump his cold, dead body out of an airlock.

Almost as soon as they made the plan to split up, it became clear that was not going to work. Naomi wasn’t leaving without Jim.

And Amos wouldn’t have admitted it on his own, but he wasn’t leaving without Prax.

Which sort of left Alex in the lurch. It was hard to get Alex to agree to scrap the Roci, but once he was over that hurdle he thought about getting a new ship. He considered defecting to the UN, too, but Jim figured they might extradite him back to Mars so they all talked him out of that. 

Amos was worried about him, so he wanted to invite him to stay with Amos and Prax and Mei. But that still left the problem of where to hide out.

Naomi was the one who came up with the best plan, in the end. They were still heroes on Ceres. Naomi was confident she could get them all fake names, fake papers. Maybe even some decent jobs. 

They made final preparations to rendezvous on Ceres, although arriving at staggered times. Alex wanted to be the last one off the Roci, but Jim convinced him that it he would be the one to abandon her and set the charges.

It turned out that the Roci herself wasn’t the glue that kept them together. Amos was surprised, but delighted. Maybe this is what it felt like to have a family.

* * *

On Ceres, Amos finds that he fit right in. It is a much harder adjustment for Prax and Mei. Mei does not like using her alias, so they settle for just changing her last name. A last name that Prax and Amos decide to share, since it is just easier that way.

Using the same last name means Amos picks Mei up from her school without issue. He and Prax get to share their insurance policy, their air, their groceries, and their apartment. 

They also share their bed, which Amos is particularly grateful for.


End file.
